Christmas Ever After (Puffin Island 3)

He’d thought he had the place to himself.

He certainly wasn’t ready to be polite and sociable.

Selina had rarely emerged before lunchtime, which had given him half a day of peace.

Sky, it appeared, wasn’t prepared to extend him the same courtesy.

She was wide-awake and dressed and even though he knew none of this was her fault, he felt a rush of resentment. “I didn’t expect you to be an early riser.”

“I’m a morning person.” She eyed him cautiously. “You, on the other hand, clearly are not.”

“I love mornings.” Just not this particular morning. He reached for his father’s prized coffee beans and gave the machine a savage look.

“I don’t think glaring at it will help,” she said mildly. “Turning it on might.”

Alec braced his hands on the work surface and closed his eyes. He didn’t want to think about being turned on. He was so damn turned on he wasn’t sure he could walk across the kitchen.

“I’m probably better off left alone until I wake up properly.”

She didn’t take the hint. “You’re not likely to wake up until you’ve had coffee. Here, let me.” She nudged him to one side and reached for the coffee beans. “Are you sure you’re a morning person? Because from where I’m standing it doesn’t seem that way.”

She was standing close to him.

Far too close.

The soft, feminine scent of her engulfed him in dizzying waves. He struggled against the impulse to grab her and wake them both up in the most primitive way known to man.

Instead he gripped the granite counter until his knuckles were white, feeling a rush of frustration that he couldn’t control his feelings.

“You’re perky for someone with a head injury and jet lag.”

“I love mornings. Every new day starts full of possibilities. You never know what could happen.”

He knew exactly what could happen, and he was trying his damnedest to stop it. “You sound like one of those quotes they put on a poster.”

“Judging from the snarl in your voice, it wasn’t one you would have hung on your wall in college.” Her tone light, she turned to look at him. “If you really are a morning person, then something else is wrong. Did I do something? Say something?”

The fact that he knew he was being unreasonable did nothing to improve his mood. “It’s not you. It’s me.”

“Alec, your teeth are clenched.”

“I’m tired. I didn’t have a great night.”

“Me, neither.” There was a pause while she did something to the coffee machine. “I was lying there wondering whether we should both get naked and make the most of the moment and that lovely big bed. Were you suffering from the same problem?”

He turned his head slowly. She was still standing close to him and her mouth was curved into a smile of impish amusement. He dragged his gaze upward and saw laughter in her wicked blue eyes.

His libido punched his intellect unconscious.

He was doomed.

“No.” His voice sounded robotic. “I wasn’t.”

She gave him a long, speculative look and then turned her attention back to the coffee machine. “Right. My mistake. Good job I didn’t jump on you in the night. You probably would have screamed and struggled, and that would have shocked the hell out of your grandmother.”

Part of him was tempted to confess it hadn’t been a mistake. That she wasn’t wrong. But that would mean taking the first step on a path he had no intention of walking.